Quote Originally Posted by Bob the Insane
It would be a real killer for New World provinces...

I never minded it that much, I mean if it was that easy to keep a large empire together Europe would be one country by now...
Exactly! As the American Revolutionaries told British representatives in 1776, "the Distance to Capital penalty is too high, there are twelve points of squalor in Philadelphia and that governor you sent has some terible traits"
Still, the fact that it makes sense historically doesn't necessarily make it good in gameplay terms. A big decrease in public order is a blunt instrument to represent the disconnection of far-flung provinces. I think the culture penalty is appropriate but squalor never made much sense and Distance to Capital could have been better represented with restricted training options and a lesser tax-raising ability. Also, many of the problems associated with far-flung empires are already represented in the game without any special implementation - the difficulty of deploying troops to defend them and maintain order, their vulnerability to enemy attack, long and dangerous journeys for governors to get there etc. An EB-style government system would have also been a good way to represent it.